A Dying Flame
by DarKazeura
Summary: It took two days for Konoha to fall. Nine months later a battle in Earth Country leads our refugees farther from the burnt ashes of their home than they had ever hoped to go. Warning: Deathfic.


A/N: Hello everyone! I wrote this fic a long time ago, but recently re-found it and realized that I had never gotten around to posting it. I have a few chapters done, but I'm hoping that by posting it, I'll get my second wind and be able to finish it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Stargate.

Chapter One:

The laughter sent chills down his spine, it was a sound he hadn't heard in such a long time, and it was a sound that definitely wouldn't be coming from an ally. They had run out of things to laugh about months ago. From his place amongst the wet and thorn filled bushes, he could easily make out the light from a nearby fire, though the figures sitting around it were cast in such great relief from the shadows of the night that he couldn't make out any clear features.

His breath halted in his lungs and he was terrified that if he did as much as blink, they would hear him. If they did, he would be captured or killed, just like all the others. His eyes unconsciously welled up with tears, but he blinked them back. He had to be strong for the other survivors, all of which were younger than him and his partner. Thinking of which, where was she?

His distraction caused him to make a possibly fatal mistake, his back leg shifted, and a branch beneath his foot snapped. The figures around the fire were instantly standing, he figured that they would think him an easy mark, but he'd show them!

"Jaffa!" A voice cried out from his stolen earpiece. His heart instantly calmed to a more manageable level at the sound of his partners voice. He hated being away from her or their charges, but they needed food, and there was no way he'd allow the others to go hunting in his place. He had to protect them, he had promised.

The figures were looking in his direction, and he recognized the weapons they held as ones the Jaffa—he couldn't even think about it. Suffice to say, he recognized the weapons, and they were not the kind that a kunai could block.

To think, four months ago, he would have just charged up a Rasengan and done away with the threat, and now, he was too afraid for those counting on him to even _breath_. If he was taken down, his kids wouldn't stand a chance. He and his Partner were the only thing keeping them alive.

"Only one is Jaffa." The voice in his earpiece spoke again, "The other three are human, civilian level. Get away while you can, I'll provide a distraction and meet you back at the cave."

He didn't reply as it would give away his position far more than the breaking branch already had. Instead, he made a few quick hand seals and used a quick Kawarimi, leaving a log in his place. He felt a lot safer now that he was on the other side of the clearing, and wasn't surprised when a loud bang was heard coming from somewhere close to where he had been previously standing. It sounded like an explosive tag going off, and he assumed it was his partner's distraction. She always had liked explosions.

He used Shunshin to get himself back to the cave, and would have cried if he could. Those hopeful, terrified little kids were counting on him to bring back food, and he had failed. He knew that they could tell he had failed the second they saw him. His fear had overtaken him, and he hadn't been able to do anything. Realistically he knew that he should have been able to take one Jaffa and three civilians with ease, he was a shinobi, after all… but he had seen what their weapons could do, and he had seen the destruction they could cause.

The kids saw his downtrodden look, and a few of them began to cry, they were all so scared and tired and hungry.

"Hey." A cold female voice said from behind him.

He turned around at the sound of his partner's voice. She looked tired, and she was almost swaying due to chakra exhaustion. She had a deep cut on her shoulder, and a bruise that went from her ear to the bottom of her jaw. Her long black hair was unkempt and her pale skin was covered in filth. The area around her eyes were bruised from lack of sleep, and her clothing was in dire need of repair. He guessed that he didn't look much better, "Hey Hanabi."

"Nothing on your end ether, then?" She questioned coldly.

"I'm sorry." He replied, and he was. He looked down and tried not to let the utter defeat get to him, but it was hard. He had failed his Rival- his friend, and he hated feeling so helpless about it. He wasn't ready to be a leader.

"Konohamaru…" She said softly with a gentle tone to her voice that would have been unheard of a couple months previous, "It—it isn't your fault."

"But it is! I _promised_ him! I promised him that I would take care of you all—and already, we're down to seven, when before, we had _twenty_. Not including the two of us."

"You're not the only person to have made a promise!" Hanabi argued loudly.

The kids scampered to the back of the cave at the loudness of her voice and she winced. The kids had quickly come to be terrified of her temper, even if she really wasn't that much older than they themselves were. She felt warm arms surround her and allowed her own delicate undernourished arms to come up and wrap around him in return. Her partner. The one solid thing left in a world of madness.

At twelve, Konohamaru was the oldest person in their small group of refugees, she was younger by a year, and everyone else was under the age of nine. Konohamaru was the only one of them to have a headband marking him as a ninja of the leaf, well; he was the only one who had earned it by graduating. She herself had been given the headband her Sister had worn before….

"We need to find a new place. They—they'll find us if we stay. Their camp isn't even a whole five minutes away." He whispered into her hair.

"I know." Hanabi replied quietly with her arms still wrapped tightly around him, taking in all of the warmth that she could. She looked over her shoulder, out the cave entrance with her Byakugan activated, "They've found the explosive tag and are searching the area."

"We need to go, now." Konohamaru pulled away from her embrace reluctantly, but she made no movement. Her pale lavender eyes were locked on something only she could see.

"Ja—jaffa." She stuttered, her fear clear. "There are four squads of them—they're heading this way. Konohamaru, we need to go!"

"Kids, pack up, we need to go!" Konohamaru ordered towards the back of the cave where the seven kids, all under the age of nine had congregated.

"It's too late!" Hanabi cried out, "They're here!"

"New plan kids, stay here. We'll fight them off." Konohamaru said. "If they get past us, henge into something unassuming, like a rock."

All of them, even the youngest who was only four, had been forced to learn Henge out of necessity. It was amazing how a little thing like survival could persuade kids into paying attention.

He and his partner stood side by side at the entrance to the cave, they both knew that there was very little chance of them making it out of this battle alive. The Jaffa had taken down Konoha with balls of fire from the sky, and then had sent their foot soldiers to collect the survivors, not that there had been many left after the attack from the skies. He just hoped that somewhere, those that had been taken were still alive. As it stood currently, he and Hanabi were the last Ninja of the Leaf; or at least the last of those that were there for the original attack. There had been a few teams out on missions, but as they hadn't ever come back, Konohamaru had to assume the worst.

If they hadn't had children with them, He and Hanabi would have stood a better chance at surviving this onslaught, as they could travel through the trees… but they couldn't abandon the children.

"You know, I would prefer a D-rank about now." Hanabi whispered as she let her Byakugan drop.

Konohamaru swallowed thickly. Him and Hanabi were the protectors of the last children of Konoha, and out of the two of them, he was the only one who was actually a Genin, though, if the attack hadn't happened, she most likely would be by now too. Fortunately, if they went by Jutsu's known, the two of them would actually be considered at low to mid Chunnin level. The people who had originally escaped with them had taught them a lot, hoping to up their chances of survival. "Let's get away from the cave, hopefully, the Jaffa won't see it."

"They won't." Hanabi assured, already going through the hand seals to some Genjutsu or another. Genjutsu had never really interested him, he had always wanted to learn more destructive techniques to be more like his Rival- his rival who had been one of the last to be taken by the foot soldiers. He had been their protector, and had allowed himself to get hit by their weapons and taken away to buy Konohamaru and Hanabi time to get the kids to a new safe place. _You had better be alive, Naruto._

Hand Seals. He thought to himself, that was their biggest weakness. The Jaffa's weapons took no time to fire and then fire again, and again, and again, while even the basics of their jutsu's required at least five to twenty seconds to pull off. It left them at a definite disadvantage. Also, mêlée combat was next to useless, as neither him, nor any of the other kids knew enough Taijutsu to take down the Jaffa who had years of training. Hanabi stood the best chance at Mêlée combat, but the Jaffa's armor put her at a disadvantage. It also didn't help that their numbers seemed damn near limitless.

Hanabi and Konohamaru may have had strength on their side, but the Jaffa had numbers.

The two Ninja moved stealthily away from the cave and towards where he had nearly been caught earlier. Both of them figured they would have an easier chance at taking out human soldiers than they would at taking out the patrols of Jaffa foot soldiers. Human soldiers stayed down when they were hit, where Jaffa soldiers, as long as they still had even a breath of life left in them, would continue to fight.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu." Konohamaru whispered followed by a quick set of hand seals. Two clones of himself appeared before him and he quickly ordered them to draw the foot soldiers away from the cave; he didn't have enough chakra left to make any more than two clones at a time. The plan was to take out the human soldiers as all the other patrols were coming from the opposite direction, thus, if they got rid of the four from earlier, they would have a free way to get the kids to safety.

Of course, karma hated them.

"Don't move!" there was a sound of one of their weapons being charged up, it was similar to the sound of a tv starting up.

"Sorry." Hanabi whispered. She hadn't had enough chakra to keep her Byakugan activated. Were they really so exhausted that they were ambushed by a civilian of all people?

"Not your fault." Konohamaru replied venomously, his tone scolding her for blaming herself for their situation.

"Holly Hanna!" The woman who had aimed the weapon at them exclaimed. She lowered the weapon instantly and the other three people came over.

Hanabi felt her back collide with Konohamaru's as the four adults surrounded them. Her eyes were locked on the Jaffa and her hands were raised in the starting position for the Gentle Fist. She could sense, more than see, Konohamaru going into his standard brawler fighting position.

"We're not going to hurt you." The man with glasses said gently as if trying to sooth a wild animal.

"Take us prisoner then?" Konohamaru hissed.

"Hold on, can we talk to your parents or something?" the older looking guy said snarkily. Hanabi could tell that that he didn't say it like that to be cruel, it was just his normal way of speaking.

Both ninja flinched as if struck, and then Konohamaru stumbled as he felt both his clones pop out of existence at the same time, his eyes widened, and forgetting the four surrounding them he turned to Hanabi, "They're attacking the cave! I don't know how they found it, but—"

"No!" Hanabi cried out, "Byakugan!"

The woman who had lowered her weapon, raised it again when the veins around Hanabi's eyes began to pop out. In the dark, she wasn't able to fully see what had happened, but a change was definitely visible.

"Go! Hold them off, I'll get them out, the cave is going to collapse!"

Konohamaru nodded and was about to sprint off when the snarky guy from before stepped in front of him, "What's going on?"

Hanabi, using the skills at reading people that her clan had prided itself in could tell that the man was honestly concerned, no matter how sarcastic he sounded, "A cave full of children is being attacked by the Jaffa foot soldiers!"

Konohamaru seemed shocked that she had told the stranger about their charges, but shrugged it off and in a smooth leap, jumped over the snarky man's head and then shunshined back to the cave.

Hinata raised her hands slightly, and readied herself to use the gentle fist to get rid of the enemies when she heard a crumbling noise. Instead, she lowered her hands and not even bothering to shunshin, ran in the direction of the cave. She didn't care if the civilians and the single Jaffa followed her, because if she didn't get the kids out of the cave, it wouldn't matter anyway.

"RASENGAN!"

She heard the following explosion and hurried her steps. Though when she got to the cave, her eyes widened and she let a small pained noise pass her lips. The cave had completely collapsed due to the missile like beams of red light from the Jaffa's staff weapons. "Byakugan!"

She scanned the cave frantically, but there was only one person alive under the cave in. Hanabi began to hastily pull rocks away. From what she could tell, the kid still alive was Hitori, a six year old boy who hero worshipped Konohamaru. She didn't even notice when other hands joined her in the digging. She was too busy fighting off hysterics and hating herself for the small bit of relief she felt. With only one kid left to look after, they might survive.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

She ignored the sounds of battle and continued to dig. She was almost there, just another five feet to go. She easily ignored the fact that her hands were bleeding, and the fact that the people helping her dig had been her enemies minutes before. She ignored everything besides the soft rise and fall of the little boy's chest.

Konohamaru appeared next to her a minute later and began to dig, though she could sense that it was only a clone. She hoped that he didn't give himself chakra exhaustion—he would be no good to anyone if he was unconscious.

"The boss needs help, they have him cornered and he doesn't have enough chakra left for an escape jutsu."

Hanabi nodded once curtly and after making sure the other four were too busy digging to notice her, created her own Kage Bunshin to take her place digging. She then shunshined towards the sound of battle.

Konohamaru shot his new weapon continually at the squad of Jaffa in front of him until they didn't even exist anymore. He had fluked out when he had thought to grab one of the downed enemy's weapons before fleeing. He sensed a flare of Chakra on the other end of the rocky clearing followed by a female cry of "Doton Retsudotenshō!"

The earth seemed to spiral around the last three Jaffa foot soldiers, before they were pulled into the rocky ground and crushed alive.

He stood shakily and lowered his Raiton gun thing a second after Hanabi's nod. "We're clear."

"The kids?" he asked quietly.

Hanabi refused to meet his eyes and shook her head, "Hitori's all that's left. Our clones are still digging him out. The three Civilians and the Jaffa from before are helping. I think, maybe, they're on our side." She sounded doubtful but there was a spark of hope in her eyes he hadn't seen since they had vacated Grass Country the month before.

He swallowed thickly and took a step, only to collapse onto his knees, he had forgotten that he had been grazed by one of the red bolts during the fight. His right thigh wasn't in good condition—the only thing he was grateful for was the fact that the heat of the weapon had cauterized the wound. He wished he had Naruto's healing, because neither he nor Hanabi had any talent with healing jutsu's.

He wished that Sakura was still with them.

"Konohamaru!" Hanabi cried. She rushed to him with her bloodline activated to better see the damage. "Come on, let's get back to the cave. My Clone just ran out of chakra, and I'm betting yours did too, though mine had orders to get away from the four unknowns before it poofed so they wouldn't know that we were that advanced."

"Right." His adrenaline all but gone, Hanabi had to almost carry him back to what was left of the cave. When they got back Hitori was being held in the arms of the blond woman and he was crying uncontrollably, though he seemed mostly unharmed besides a couple new bruises.

"Hitori-kun!" Hanabi cried out.

The small boy looked up and his tears started anew, though this time, he seemed relieved, "Hanabi-sama! Konohamaru-sama!"

Hanabi rushed over as fast as she could, while keeping Konohamaru from putting too much weight on his leg. The kid pulled away from the blond who was holding him and latched onto his hero. Konohamaru felt the tiny arms around him, but he couldn't seem to raise his own. Everything was blurring and he just _knew_ he was going to get smacked by Hanabi for overdoing it.

"Konohamaru!"

"Konohamaru-sama!"

And then his eyes closed and the world went even darker than the night around him.


End file.
